Emily Birsan has always been surrounded by singing, being the daughter of a pastor. Throughout her education, she continued her passion for singing, completing her undergrad at Lawrence University and her Masters at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Madison has been my musical home,” Birsan says. “I have so many colleagues and friends that are doing amazing things there.”
Birsan has done a lot of opera singing throughout her career, completing a three year residency at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She also explains how the opera world is not doing as well recently — one of the reasons that she has been pursuing it less.
“There's just not enough money in it to make it worth it for someone with a family,” Birsan explains when discussing the financial hardships of opera.
Birsan is a mother of two children, a 2-year-old and a 3-month-old. While this now takes up a lot of her time, it is something that deepened her values in life.
“You see yourself in your kids and you see the things that you maybe want to work on, or the things that you actually appreciate about yourself,” Birsan explains.
Birsan is more than ready to be a part of the LunART Festival this year. She will be performing in our chamber music concert and will also be one of the speakers in our panel discussion. She is excited to perform new repertoire by more modern composers, including our Composer-in-Residence, Melinda Wagner.
“I'm excited to get back and have that kind of connection with colleagues,” Birsan explains. “With a full orchestra, you have to just watch the conductor, but I just love chamber music, we all really have an equal say in what's going on.”
As for working with LunART, this is something Birsan has wanted to do for quite some time.
“I've been wanting to work with Iva for a long time… I've known her since we did our Masters around the same time,” Birsan says. “The concept of the festival is like, right up my alley.”
Come talk with Birsan at our Art & Motherhood discussion panel on May 29 and hear her sing at the Chamber Concert on May 31! For more information about these events, follow the link here.